010 - הִלְכוֹת מַאֲכָלוֹת אֲסוּרוֹת פֵּרֶק י

Laws of Ma'achalos Asuros, Chapter 10

1. All the prohibitions we have mentioned concern living creatures. There are other Torah prohibitions concerning the produce of the earth: chadash (new grain), kil'ei hakerem (mixed plantings in a vineyard), orlah, and tevel.

2. Chadash, how so? Of each of the five species of grain only, it is forbidden to eat the new crop before the omer is offered on the sixteenth of Nissan, as it says, "וְלֶחֶם וְקָלִי וְכַרְמֶל לֹא תֹאכְלוּ" ("you shall eat neither bread, nor parched grain, nor fresh ears," Vayikra 23:14). Whoever eats a kezayis of chadash before the omer is offered receives lashes by Torah law, in every place and at every time, whether in Eretz Yisrael or outside it, whether while the Beis Hamikdash stands or not. But when there is a Beis Hamikdash, once the omer is offered the new grain is permitted in Yerushalayim, and in distant places it is permitted after midday, for the beis din is not slow about it beyond midday. When there is no Beis Hamikdash, the whole day is forbidden by Torah law. Nowadays, in places that keep two days, the new grain is forbidden all of the seventeenth of Nissan until evening, by the words of the Sages.

3. One who eats bread, parched grain and fresh ears, a kezayis of each, receives three sets of lashes, as it says, "וְלֶחֶם וְקָלִי וְכַרְמֶל לֹא תֹאכְלוּ" ("you shall eat neither bread, nor parched grain, nor fresh ears," Vayikra 23:14); from the oral tradition they learned that the three are separate prohibitions.

4. All grain that took root before the omer was offered, even though it ripened only after the omer was offered, is permitted to eat once the omer is offered. Grain that took root after the omer was offered, even though it was sown before the omer was offered, is forbidden until the omer of the following year is offered. This law applies in every place and at every time, by Torah law.

5. Grain that took root after the omer, was harvested, and he sowed some of the wheat in the ground, and afterwards the next omer was offered while the wheat was still in the ground: it is doubtful whether the omer permitted it, as though it were lying in a jar, or does not permit it, because it became nullified in the ground. Therefore if he gathered some of it and ate it, he does not receive lashes, but he is given lashes for rebelliousness. Likewise an ear of grain that reached a third of its growth before the omer, was uprooted and replanted after the omer was offered, and grew more: it is doubtful whether it is forbidden because of the added growth until the next omer comes, or is not forbidden, since it took root before the omer.

6. Kil'ei hakerem, how so? A species of grain or of vegetables sown together with the vine, whether a Jew sowed it or a non-Jew, or it came up by itself, or he planted the vine among the vegetables: both are forbidden to eat and for benefit, as it says, "פֶּן-תִּקְדַּשׁ, הַמְלֵאָה הַזֶּרַע אֲשֶׁר תִּזְרָע, וּתְבוּאַת, הַכָּרֶם" ("lest the full yield of the seed you sow and the produce of the vineyard become forfeit," Devarim 22:9), meaning: lest you have to keep away, and both become forbidden.

7. One who eats a kezayis of kil'ei hakerem, whether of the vegetables or of the grapes, receives lashes by Torah law, and the two combine with each other.

8. When does this apply? When they were sown in Eretz Yisrael. But outside Eretz Yisrael, kil'ei hakerem is forbidden by the words of the Sages. In Hilchos Kil'ayim it will be explained which species is forbidden as kil'ei hakerem and which is not, how and when it becomes forbidden, and what makes it forfeit and what does not.

9. Orlah, how so? Whoever plants a fruit tree: all the fruit the tree produces in the three years from its planting are forbidden to eat and for benefit, as it says, "שָׁלֹשׁ שָׁנִים, יִהְיֶה לָכֶם עֲרֵלִים--לֹא יֵאָכֵל" ("for three years it shall be forbidden to you; it shall not be eaten," Vayikra 19:23). Whoever eats a kezayis of them receives lashes by Torah law.

10. When does this apply? To one who plants in Eretz Yisrael, as it says, "כִּי-תָבֹאוּ אֶל-הָאָרֶץ" ("when you come into the land," Vayikra 19:23). But the prohibition of orlah outside Eretz Yisrael is a halachah given to Moshe at Sinai: certain orlah outside the Land is forbidden, and doubtful orlah is permitted. In Hilchos Ma'aser Sheni it will be explained what is forbidden as orlah and what is permitted.

11. Doubtful orlah and kil'ei hakerem: in Eretz Yisrael it is forbidden; in Syria, which is the lands that David conquered, it is permitted. How so? If there was a vineyard of orlah and grapes were being sold outside it, or vegetables sown inside it and vegetables being sold outside it, and perhaps these are from it and perhaps from elsewhere: in Syria they are permitted. Outside the Land, even if he saw the grapes coming out of a vineyard of orlah, or vegetables coming out of the vineyard, he may buy from them, provided he does not see him harvesting from the orlah or picking the vegetables with his own hand.

12. A vineyard that is doubtful orlah or doubtful kil'ayim: in Eretz Yisrael it is forbidden; in Syria it is permitted; and needless to say outside the Land.

13. A barrel of wine found hidden in an orchard of orlah is permitted for benefit, for a thief does not steal from a place and hide it there. But grapes found hidden there are forbidden, lest they were picked there and hidden there.

14. A non-Jew and a Jew who were partners in a planting: if they stipulated at the start of the partnership that the non-Jew would eat the years of orlah, and the Jew would eat three years of the permitted years in place of the years of orlah, it is permitted. If they did not stipulate this at the start, it is forbidden, provided they do not come to a reckoning. How so? For example, if he reckons how much fruit the non-Jew ate in the years of orlah, so that the Jew will eat the same amount of fruit in return: if they stipulated this, it is forbidden, for this is like exchanging fruit of orlah.

15. It seems to me that the law of neta reva'i (fourth-year fruit) does not apply outside Eretz Yisrael; rather, one eats the fruit of the fourth year without any redemption, for they spoke only of orlah. The matter follows by kal vachomer: if Syria, which is obligated in tithes and in shemitah by the words of the Sages, is not obligated in neta reva'i, as will be explained in Hilchos Ma'aser Sheni, all the more so outside the Land neta reva'i does not apply. But in Eretz Yisrael it applies whether the Beis Hamikdash stands or not. Some of the Geonim ruled that a fourth-year vineyard alone is redeemed outside the Land and is permitted to eat afterwards; this has no basis.

16. All the fruit of the fourth year may not be eaten in Eretz Yisrael until they are redeemed. In Hilchos Ma'aser Sheni the laws of their redemption, the law of eating them, and from when one counts for orlah and for the fourth year will be explained.

17. How are the fruit of neta reva'i redeemed nowadays? After he gathers them he says the blessing, "בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּנוּ עַל פִּדְיוֹן נֶטַע רְבָעִי" ("Blessed are You, Hashem our G‑d, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us concerning the redemption of fourth-year fruit"). Afterwards he redeems all of them, even with one perutah, and says, "These are redeemed with this perutah," and throws that perutah into the Dead Sea. Or he transfers their holiness onto a perutah's worth of other produce and says, "All this fruit is transferred onto this wheat," or "onto this barley" and the like, and burns it so that it will not be a stumbling block for others. And he eats all the fruit.

18. Some of the Geonim ruled that even though he redeemed or transferred the fruit of the fourth year, it is forbidden to eat them until the fifth year begins; this has no basis. It seems to me that this is an error in instruction, and it comes from the division of the verse, since it is written "וּבַשָּׁנָה הַחֲמִישִׁת, תֹּאכְלוּ אֶת-פִּרְיוֹ" ("and in the fifth year you may eat its fruit," Vayikra 19:25). The meaning of the verse is only that in the fifth year you eat its fruit without redemption, like any ordinary produce in the world. One should not be concerned about this ruling.

19. Tevel, how so? Any food from which one is obligated to separate terumah and tithes is called tevel before he separates them, and it is forbidden to eat of it, as it says, "וְלֹא יְחַלְּלוּ, אֶת-קָדְשֵׁי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל--אֵת אֲשֶׁר-יָרִימוּ, לַה'" ("and they shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, which they set apart for Hashem," Vayikra 22:15), meaning they shall not treat them as ordinary produce while the holy portions that are to be separated have not yet been separated. One who eats a kezayis of tevel before terumah gedolah and terumas ma'aser are separated from it is liable to death at the hands of Heaven, as it says, "וְלֹא יְחַלְּלוּ, אֶת-קָדְשֵׁי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל . . . וְהִשִּׂיאוּ אוֹתָם עֲוֹן אַשְׁמָה" ("and they shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel . . . and cause them to bear the iniquity of guilt," Vayikra 22:15–16).

20. But one who eats from produce from which terumah gedolah and terumas ma'aser were taken, but the tithes were not yet separated, even if only ma'aser ani remains in it, receives lashes for eating tevel. There is no death penalty in it, for the sin of death applies only to terumah gedolah and terumas ma'aser.

21. The warning against eating tevel from which the tithes were not separated is included in what it says, "לֹא-תוּכַל לֶאֱכֹל בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ, מַעְשַׂר דְּגָנְךָ . . ." ("you may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain . . . ," Devarim 12:17). In Hilchos Terumos uMa'asros it will be explained what is obligated in terumah and tithes and what is exempt, and what is obligated by Torah law and what by the words of the Sages. One who eats a kezayis of tevel that is forbidden by their words, or of kil'ei hakerem or orlah of outside the Land, is given lashes for rebelliousness.

22. Tevel, chadash, hekdesh, the aftergrowth of shemitah, kil'ayim and orlah: the liquids that come out of their fruit are forbidden like them, but one does not receive lashes for them, except for wine and oil of orlah and wine of kil'ei hakerem, for which one receives lashes, just as one receives lashes for their olives and grapes.

23. There are other prohibitions of foods among holy things, and all of them are from the Torah, such as the prohibitions involved in eating terumos, bikkurim, challah and ma'aser sheni, and the prohibitions involved in the holy things of the altar, such as piggul, nosar and something impure. Each of them will be explained in its place.

24. The measure of eating for all of them is a kezayis, whether for lashes or for kares. We have already explained the prohibition of chametz on Pesach and its laws in Hilchos Chametz uMatzah. But the prohibition of eating on Yom Kippur is not the prohibition of a particular kind of food; likewise the prohibition of what comes from the vine for a nazir does not apply equally to everyone. Therefore the prohibition of each of them, its measure and its laws will be explained in its proper place.